ATP presses Loudoun Board candidates on environmental extremism

* Ferguson: ‘Candidates who oppose jobs, property rights and progress will be held accountable.’
* Group contacted 65,000 total Loudoun residents in effort that stopped CBPO

The nation’s largest and fastest-growing grassroots advocate of rational, pro-jobs environmental policies has sent all candidates for the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors a survey asking them to explain their positions on important issues facing voters.

“Voters have a right to know which candidates stand for jobs and which are hiding an anti-jobs, anti-progress agenda,” said American Tradition Partnership Executive Director Donald Ferguson. “The beating, led by American Tradition Partnership, this Board took over its Chesapeake Bay scheme makes one thing clear. Loudoun is sick of tax hikes and radical regulations from the ‘Gang Green’ Board.”

“I just finished a raw steak and a glass of scotch for breakfast, so I have plenty more fight left.”

“Our purpose is to promote rational environmental polices and educate the public where candidates stand on those issues. As I promised last year we’ve been working non-stop to hold accountable those who oppose job creation, property rights and progress.

Candidates who oppose jobs, property rights and progress will be held accountable,” said Ferguson. “Every member of the next Board of Supervisors should support rational environmental policy and oppose the radical anti-progress extremism of the Gang Green environmental movement.”

Candidates had until Oct. 15 to have their returned American Tradition Partnership surveys postmarked for delivery. Results are currently being compiled.

ATP was among the first groups to oppose the Board’s Chesapeake Bay Property Control Plan, and the most active. The group telephoned a total of 65,000 Loudoun residents, giving them their supervisor’s office, home or cell phone number and urging them to contact their supervisor in opposition to the tax-and-regulate plan.

Supervisor Jim Burton eventually tabled the plan after ATP placed over 10,000 phone calls into his district, leading Burton to bitterly complain citizens were asking him to oppose it before he eventually gave in.

“Burton did not kill the plan. He simply tabled it and can bring it back at any time. They’re just playing a waiting game, and I am ready to beat it back down again,” said Ferguson.

American Tradition Partnership has earned its reputation as the nation’s most effective opponent of the multi-million dollar “Gang Green” environmentalist lobby.

“American Tradition Partnership wins time and time again because the people are on our side, something elected officials should keep in mind,” said Ferguson. ATP is currently the focus of an attack by “Green For All,” a radical leftist group founded by former Obama advisor Van Jones and funded by leftist billionaire George Soros. “American Tradition Partnership intends to play a larger and larger role in national politics,” the group’s “Oppose The Future” project writes.

“This year at CPAC, ATP was relatively unknown. That’s not likely to continue much longer,” the group complained.

“If Van Jones and George Soros are trying to stop American Tradition Partnership I must be doing something right,” said Ferguson.

One Colorado state senate candidate, writing on the political blog ColoradoPols.com, referred to Ferguson as, “(a)n aggressive supporter of all things anti-Obama and a loyal defender of last century’s fuel industry” while admitting he is “someone who knows quite a bit about marketing,” is “very impressive” and has a “history of being quoted by Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.” That candidate would go onto lose, after refusing to answer his ATP survey.

In just the last few months ATP has:

* Filed lawsuits in Montana to allow corporations to make expenditures on behalf of candidates.

* Killed Barack Obama’s “Cap and Tax” bill in Congress.

* Along with allies, collected the signatures of 750,000 Americans in support of the Keystone XL pipeline, which transports Canadian oil across the United States to Southeast Texas for refining.

* Won House Judiciary Committee approval of the REINS Act, which strips federal bureaucrats of their power to propose and enforce major federal regulations. The bill will now be approved by the full House before moving to the Senate.

* Successfully pushed to have the gray wolf taken off the so-called “Endangered Species List” so it can be hunted down and exterminated.

* Filed a federal lawsuit against Colorado to repeal the state’s Expensive Energy Mandate, which forces consumers to buy more expensive wind and solar power against their will.

* Filed a lawsuit against Montana to stop their ongoing harassment and false smear campaigns against conservative groups, which has already been blasted by federal courts as “petty bureaucratic harassment.” Montana officials have openly admitted they have no evidence conservative groups have done any wrong and every district attorney has refused to even look into the politically-motivated accusations.

* Won national headlines along with our federal free speech lawsuit against Montana which allows small employers to spend money on independent political expenditures.

* Won a federal free speech lawsuit against a liberal Colorado city who passed a law requiring residents to essentially get permission from the government before saying or publishing anything critical of the liberal city council.

* Stopped a plan by liberals in the U.S. Senate to protect the EPA’s plans to declare carbon dioxide a toxic pollutant.

* Passed legislation in Montana endorsing nullification of the so-called “Endangered Species Act.”

* Launched a campaign to repeal New Hampshire’s participation in the “Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative,” a northeastern U.S. “global warming” tax cartel.

* Launched a national campaign to debunk phony claims about natural gas development using safe, clean hydraulic fracturing.

* Sank plans by Newt Gingrich to win the 2011 CPAC conservative conference’s famous Straw Poll. With a coveted speaking slot, exhibiting organization and book signing, hosting three panels and a reception and screening two films, Gingrich’s presence dominated that of other presumptive presidential candidates. CPAC looked to be a launching pad for a Gingrich presidential bid. Instead, the Republican powerhouse cratered after ATP informed voters of Gingrich’s long record of supporting massive tax hikes, increased government power and international regulatory regimes to enforce what he calls “environmental compliance.”

ATP does not advocate the election or defeat of candidates. Supported by grassroots members, ATP is a fast-growing non-profit citizens’ group dedicated to fighting environmental extremism and promoting private property rights and responsible development and management of land, water, and natural resources.

Donald Ferguson is the Executive Director of American Tradition Partnership. Born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, birthplace of the oil industry, Ferguson attended Texas A&M University and has been involved in free-market advocacy and political organizing for two decades. He also serves as an advisor to political campaigns, lobbying groups, non-profit organizations and businesses across the United States and in Africa.